Guarding Toward Dispassion

•St. Luke the Evangelist (14:27): “Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
•St. Peter of Damascus: “I have found altogether in the Holy Scriptures 228 virtues and 298 passions.”
•St. Mark the Ascetic & St. Philotheus of Sinai: “ First there is provocation; then a coupling with provocation; then assent to it; then captivity to it; then passion grown habitual and continuous. This is how the holy fathers describe the stages through which the devil gets the better of us.”
•St. Maximos the Confessor: “If you make provision for desires of the Flesh (Rom 13:14) and bear a grudge against your neighbor on account of something transitory, you worship the creature instead of the Creator.”
•Ilias the Presbyter: “Passion is removed from the soul through fasting and prayer; self indulgence through vigil and silence; impassioned craving through stillness and attentiveness. Dispassion is established through the remembrance of God.”